FRANKFURT.- The VAR annulled two goals by Romelu Lukaku and Belgium suffered an unexpected 1-0 defeat on Monday against Slovakia in a crazy match for Group D of the European Championship.
Slovakia made its breakthrough in the seventh minute with a goal from attacker Ivan Schranz and then survived a string of missed chances by Lukaku, the historic scorer of the “Red Devils”, and everything generated by its midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. To make matters worse, two goals from Lukaku in the second half were disallowed.
The well-deserved Slovakian victory was also based on a providential intervention by defender David Hancko, whose clearance at the goal line left him lying in the net with a blow to the face from a teammate’s knee.}
This happened in the 62nd minute, with substitute Johan Bakayoko’s close-range shot, just seven minutes after Lukaku’s first “goal” was disallowed due to an offside position.
The second VAR intervention, at 86, invalidated Lukaku’s powerful shot due to a handball from Lois Openda prior to giving the pass.
Lukaku set a record in European Championship qualifying by scoring 14 goals last year, but failed on numerous occasions during the first half.
One surprise after another:
The drama in Frankfurt followed another unexpected result in the key. Romania beat Ukraine 3-0 with authority in Munich.
It was Belgium’s first defeat in 15 games under coach Domenico Tedesco and they will face Romania on Saturday in Cologne.
Slovakia will have an extra day off to face Ukraine in Duesseldorf on Friday.
The Belgian team started the competition as one of the favorites to advance in the bracket, despite having a disappointing performance in the last edition of the World Cup.
Source: AP
